A valuable, highly informative, and lucid compendium composed purposefully for fellow travelers.
Douglas provides a comprehensive guide for navigating the difficult path from the diagnosis of breast cancer to recovery in this memoir.
In July 2019, the author received a call from her doctor reporting an abnormality in her recent mammogram; more imaging tests were needed. “I discovered that there isn’t always a straight line from imaging through biopsy and diagnosis to treatment. In my case, it was almost three months from my abnormal mammogram to surgery,” she writes. The first surgeon Douglas consulted for a biopsy left her feeling uncomfortable, and she delayed action until she found a specialized breast surgeon. Reflecting on this, she offers one of her first pieces of advice: Get a second opinion. Ultimately, Douglas was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ. She explains, “This type of breast cancer isn’t invasive and hadn’t spread to the surrounding tissues.” It was declared stage 0, but there were still complicated decisions ahead. What type of surgery should she select—mastectomy or lumpectomy plus radiation? Douglas reviewed the macro and micro consequences of each procedure with her oncology/surgical team and took the time to do her own research as well. Given the early stage of her cancer, she chose the less invasive path. There was difficulty in dealing with the confusing and cumbersome medical terminology, the scheduling and rescheduling, learning to manage and respect the emotional roller coaster of the journey, and, always, the waiting. Her articulate memoir is meticulously organized, with precise descriptions of each medical visit, explanations of procedure options, and recommendations for piloting through the health care system and insurance issues. With an unflinching honesty, Douglas discusses everything from psychological challenges to sexual difficulties. She networked with other breast cancer survivors and shares pieces of their individual choices and experiences, always emphasizing that this story is about her personal path: “Breast cancer is not one single disease with one correct treatment option.” From abnormal mammogram through surgery and radiation treatment to recovery, Douglas packs her narrative with helpful tips and advice, including recommended resources and services.
A valuable, highly informative, and lucid compendium composed purposefully for fellow travelers.Pub Date: May 23, 2023
ISBN: 9781954805408
Page Count: 348
Publisher: Bold Story Press
Review Posted Online: May 12, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A determined if self-regarding portrait of a candidate striving to define herself and her campaign on her own terms.
An insider’s chronicle of a pivotal presidential campaign.
Several months into the mounting political upheaval of Donald Trump’s second term and following a wave of bestselling political exposés, most notably Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s Original Sin on Joe Biden’s health and late decision to step down, former Vice President Harris offers her own account of the consequential months surrounding Biden’s withdrawal and her swift campaign for the presidency. Structured as brief chapters with countdown headers from 107 days to Election Day, the book recounts the campaign’s daily rigors: vetting a running mate, navigating back-to-back rallies, preparing for the convention and the debate with Trump, and deflecting obstacles in the form of both Trump’s camp and Biden’s faltering team. Harris aims to set the record straight on issues that have remained hotly debated. While acknowledging Biden’s advancing decline, she also highlights his foreign-policy steadiness: “His years of experience in foreign policy clearly showed….He was always focused, always commander in chief in that room.” More blame is placed on his inner circle, especially Jill Biden, whom Harris faults for pushing him beyond his limits—“the people who knew him best, should have realized that any campaign was a bridge too far.” Throughout, she highlights her own qualifications and dismisses suggestions that an open contest might have better served the party: “If they thought I was down with a mini primary or some other half-baked procedure, I was quick to disabuse them.” Facing Trump’s increasingly unhinged behavior, Harris never openly doubts her ability to confront him. Yet she doesn’t fully persuade the reader that she had the capacity to counter his dominance, suggesting instead that her defeat stemmed from a lack of time—a theme underscored by the urgency of the book’s title. If not entirely sanguine about the future, she maintains a clear-eyed view of the damage already done: “Perhaps so much damage that we will have to re-create our government…something leaner, swifter, and much more efficient.”
A determined if self-regarding portrait of a candidate striving to define herself and her campaign on her own terms.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781668211656
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.
A noted actor turns to verse: “Poems are a Saturday in the middle of the week.”
McConaughey, author of the gracefully written memoir Greenlights, has been writing poems since his teens, closing with one “written in an Australian bathtub” that reads just as a poem by an 18-year-old (Rimbaud excepted) should read: “Ignorant minds of the fortunate man / Blind of the fate shaping every land.” McConaughey is fearless in his commitment to the rhyme, no matter how slight the result (“Oops, took a quick peek at the sky before I got my glasses, / now I can’t see shit, sure hope this passes”). And, sad to say, the slight is what is most on display throughout, punctuated by some odd koanlike aperçus: “Eating all we can / at the all-we-can-eat buffet, / gives us a 3.8 education / and a 4.2 GPA.” “Never give up your right to do the next right thing. This is how we find our way home.” “Memory never forgets. Even though we do.” The prayer portion of the program is deeply felt, but it’s just as sentimental; only when he writes of life-changing events—a court appearance to file a restraining order against a stalker, his decision to quit smoking weed—do we catch a glimpse of the effortlessly fluent, effortlessly charming McConaughey as exemplified by the David Wooderson (“alright, alright, alright”) of Dazed and Confused. The rest is mostly a soufflé in verse. McConaughey’s heart is very clearly in the right place, but on the whole the book suggests an old saw: Don’t give up your day job.
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781984862105
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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